QQC Part Eight

" Nevertheless, the difficulty of reading his works greatly hindered the diffusion of his ideas; and it seems a perverse economy to save a few words or pages at the cost of many unnecessary hours of struggle and frustration by those who wish to learn."

First let me say that I absolutely love this quote! I love this quote because it applies not only to the text but also to daily life. In relation to the text I completely agree with the agitation shown by the many people who could not immediately understand but I also understand Gauss's need for utter structure and the clarity in which he wrote his proof's. In relation to real life, I think I can safely say that every student at one time or another has had this feeling in a Math class. It is completely frustrating to be staring at a problem when a teacher, whether they be written or in person, has not clearly, step by step, or just plain gone over the problem before hand. My question then becomes did Gauss really care that because of how his equations and proofs were presented that many did not understand? Or did he stand there like the teacher who just lets his students figure it out on his own?

QQC Part Seven

This quote starts from "He averaged about 800 printed....." to "required for completion of the project". Now I am very aware that this quote does not exactly pertain to math but all the same it still utterly amazes me. First of all the shear volume of work that Euler was able to write, many of the great writers of the modern and old world did not write this much. What really struck me about this is that everything he wrote was about Math, in one way or another. As someone who struggle with the application of different Math concepts I am astounded by the idea. Because for Euler to have been able to "write with the ease and fluency of a skilled speaker". This means he was not only able to write down all of the math but also be able to record the information in a way that was understandable. I am amazed at the fact that one man was able to write so much and still be understandable on a subject that is not always the easiest to comprehend.

QQC Part Six

The quote begins with "Leibniz spent the next.." and ends with "secretary of the local Rosicrucian society". This quote caught my attention to begin with because of the similarity it brought up between Newton and Leibniz. That both men were part of secret societies, and that within these societies knowledge seemed to flow far more freely than in the universities at that time. The question it arouse to me was that of why did this happen? Universities are suppose to help push the knowledge barrier and create advancements but apparently this was not so, Leibniz even said that they were "monkish". These societies that were created, that seem to host many of the people we look at as genius, were where knowledge seemed to truly flow.